So…What’s Next?

Right now the next novel is underway. I should probably be marketing Jack Kursed, but the best marketing is to keep writing. I think I’ve settled on the title, but that could change in the next six months or so. It’s called Soul Insurance, and I’ll be throwing the first chapter or so of that online soon. I need some early feedback on it, as I don’t want to completely miss the mark on what I want to do with it.

With Soul Insurance I’m trying to create a new world, a slightly different version of the world we live in now. This is definitely challenging. In writing this novel I’m finding it much more difficult than creating a novel based in a world with vampires and werewolves. I think that’s because a lot of the groundwork has already been laid in books and movies. You can say “vampire”, and an image immediately pops into mind. Now, some vampires sparkle, some fry in sunlight, but you get the idea. But if I say I’m writing a book about a world with souls in it, that might confuse people. 🙂

It really makes me feel for fantasy writers. How do they do it?

I don’t want to go into too much detail. I’m hoping the sample speaks for itself, and people can read it and understand the world without having to refer back to a blog post. But if I had to throw out a teaser, imagine a world where reincarnation is not only real, but is also a business. Souls exist, and we know this because everyone can see them.

And I’ll leave the teaser at that. I think I’ve done an okay job in the first few chapters of introducing the characters, and the world they live in, without a lot of info-dumps. The first 10K words have been a challenge, but I think I’m almost past the “introduce the world” hump.

I’ll have to take a short break soon from Soul Insurance because I have a little work to do on my other books (besides Dead Living). They’ll all be going into print, so I’ll need to work with my cover artist on that. If you want an actual print copy of my other novels, this is good news.

In summary:

• The next novel is called Soul Insurance. As always, I’d like to get halfway done, get a covered designed, then add it to the Coming Soon section.
• I’ll be posting a sample of Soul Insurance soon.
• Print versions of Demonspawn, A Witch to Live, Jack Kursed, and Mind Slide are on the way.